Beshear on point with gaming bill

There's a good editorial about Kentucky's horse industry in today's Courier-Journal:

There is nothing Kentucky can do about the competition that other states have mounted except compete, and that means expanded gaming, with proceeds used, at least in part, to help prop up the state's battered tracks, the racing circuit they provide and the broad infrastructure on which the horse business depends.

Gov. Steve Beshear has exercised leadership by putting his proposal out there. It would have been better had he won agreement from legislative leaders beforehand, but, in the absence of that, he had to take the point. Those who had no better ideas to offer (including the unrealistic, unpassable suggestions circulated by Senate President David Williams) have no standing to criticize.

...The Governor is hostage to the legislative process, and there's a high potential for rejection of his plan. But he had to submit it. If the worst happens, with the predictable consequences for Kentucky families and the state's economy, he can say he tried.